Weekend Adventures #3

Day 13 – Saturday, July 10, 2010
We slept in!! It was wonderful!! We got up this morning, made breakfast, and then went for our 6 lap run. Both Nyagana and Tubi have gigs tonight, so we spent some time in Melville again which was fun…we went to a restaurant/bar where Tubi was playing and had dinner and relaxed there for a while and then when it was time for the game we went to the Loft again and watched the game. Marc spied a vuvuzela above the bar and asked if he could use it during the game – which he did, and with pride. The bar ended up giving it to him – I think they were probably happy to have it out of their bar. The real adventure came after the game though because we got to drop Sarah off at home and then take the car home…so with John driving and Marc and me navigating, we made our way home using a Thomas Brothers map and a hand-written map that Sarah had drawn us…we mostly went off of Sarah’s map until we got lost – she had left off a little jog we needed to take and we ended up on a couple of different streets near Alex at midnight that we shouldn’t have been on – so between looking at the map, pulling over at a gas station and asking directions, and phone calls to Sarah, we made it home – a little frazzled but safe and sound nonetheless – John adapted to driving on the left side of the road really well so I never felt nervous about that. It was just the Alex/night/old car/low on gas combo that scared me a little.

Sunday, July 11, 2010
Today we drove the car to an outdoor mall nearby – Brightwater Commons so that John could do a little skateboarding. It was fun watching him and of course he made friends by the time he was done.


After that we headed to Joburg to watch the final match of the World Cup in Newtown at the fan park there. We first went to Ko’spotong (translation: the gathering place) again – the restaurant we had gone to earlier – and many of the musicians from the week before were there – Bless, who was there selling her jewelry, Tolo, GuGu and Nangana, as well as some of the other musicians we’ve met through Tubi.

We stayed there for a few hours and since it’s right next to the fan park, once it got close to starting time, we walked over to the fan park and watched the pre-game entertainment. The energy was so great, the vuvuzelas were so loud, flags were waving, and people were singing and dancing and cheering.

There were tents set up at the back of the park for vendors and food, and there was a giant red robot made out of Coke crates set up in the middle. Bob Marley was played pretty regularly as well as many South African musicians, whose names were given to me by a couple of the musicians but I don’t remember them now. One moment I’ll never forget was when Nelson Mandela coming into the stadium was shown on the big screen…the place erupted in cheers. The kids at school say he considered to be everybody’s grandfather. There is clearly great affection for him here – as there should be. He preached reconciliation and forgiveness – which I think answers a question we all had about why so many black South Africans were cheering for the Netherlands, given their history. Once the game started the temperature got progressively colder. We stayed at the fan park until the end of regulation time, but it was so cold at this point and we had been standing for so long, that we decided to head back to Ko’spotong to finish watching the game. And I think half the crowd had the same idea. It was packed – with everyone standing and looking toward one tv up on the wall. But as packed as it was, everyone was so friendly and happy.

The best part of course came at the end when Spain scored in the last 2 minutes and the place erupted in cheers. K naan feat (the FIFA song by Will.i.am) was played and sung by the crowd and Waka Waka (the Shakira song) was played and sung by the whole crowd. This was one of the most memorable nights of my life ! I will definitely never forget it!